Why Choose GiraffeMail?
Self-hosted single binary with embedded UI — no Elasticsearch, no SaaS lock-in
Source
AGPL
Rule
Cleanup
Verified SHA-256 blobs before any message leaves your IMAP server
What You Get
IMAP archive
Multiple accounts, incremental UID sync, zstd-compressed content-addressed blobs on your disk.
SQLite FTS5
Full-text search with keyset pagination. Subjects, bodies, senders — no search cluster required.
Safe cleanup
Filter by age, sender, size. Preview jobs first. Server delete only when archive is verified.
Export & restore
mbox or zip export. APPEND archived messages back to IMAP when you need them.
RBAC
Admin and user roles. Each user sees only the mail accounts they own.
Docker ready
Compose file, health checks, migrate and seed on container start. Run on any VPS.
The Golden Rule
Enforced in code — every cleanup query checks this before touching the mail server.
Tour
How It Compares
| GiraffeMail | Typical backup | Cloud archive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | yes | varies | no |
| Safe server cleanup | yes | no | varies |
| Full-text search | SQLite FTS5 | often none | yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | varies | proprietary |